Yesterday, my longtime
friend and mentor, the brilliant attorney, Bill Tendy, died after a long battle with ALS. He was 60, with two great kids.
ALS (“Lou
Gehrig’s Disease”), a progressive, neurodegenerative disease, is dreadful. There is no cure, and those afflicted tend to
become more and more paralyzed. To
anyone who thinks the ice bucket challenges are silly, or stupid, or disrespectful,
I say: they are helping to make progress. To date, they have helped raise over $42
Million for research and raise awareness.
During the same time last year, $2 Million was raised.
Back to my
friend. In his prime, Bill was, bar
none, one of the greatest trial attorneys who ever lived, no joke. Yes, he handled many high profile cases and I’m
sure if you google his name you’ll find them.
But the reason he was a great trial attorney is because he truly, truly
cared about his clients and the outcome;
he loved the law; he loved trying
cases before a jury and took command of the courtroom; he had a mind like a steel trap; and he was like a bloodhound, he left no
stone unturned. That, and he had
(CENSORED)s of Steel. Really, he had the
nerve to try stuff in court I wouldn’t even dream of and I’m pretty (CENSORED)y
as a trial attorney.
I’m thinking
of the Iris Pyne trial. Iris Pyne was a victim
of domestic violence who suffered from Battered Woman’s Syndrome and shot her
husband in what Bill asserted was self defense.
It was 1993. The judge in the
first trial refused to let in evidence of Mr. Pyne’s prior assault convictions
or the orders of protection Iris had against him. Basically, Bill knew his client was getting
an unfair trial because the judge would not let in the evidence of domestic
violence. Bill employed a strategy that
was geared toward what he knew would be an appeal: he put on no case whatsoever. He did not mount a defense, did not put on
one witness or put in any evidence.
That, my friends, takes cojones, trust me. Iris was convicted and sentenced to 15 years
to life, and Bill went to work on the appeal.
He won the
appeal, a grueling task in and of itself, and Iris was granted a new
trial. I don’t remember a lot of the
details of the second trial other than that Bill was really, really at the top
of his game. This wasn’t Law and Order
or CSI, this was real life, in Ulster County, NY, and you just felt like you
were watching the Derek Jeter of the legal profession when Bill took command of
the courtroom. As in, a legend is
passing through here. The jury acquitted
Iris Pyne of all counts. She went on to
live a life of relative anonymity.
After being
diagnosed with ALS, Bill decided to spend as much time with his beloved family
as he could.
This past
Thursday night, August 22nd, at my request, Coach Kennedy had the
kids at Newburgh Rowing Club practice put on an epic Ice Bucket Challenge. (I had already donated to ALS the week before). The plans might have been a little too epic,
given the water conditions. But, in the
end, I have a video of a crew of kids lifting up an 8+ crew shell which already
weighs over 300 pounds, filled with ice and water, and dumping it on
themselves. Out of a 3-minute video, I
cut it down to 10 seconds, and mixed in some still photos and some music. The rest of the video shows all of the
mistakes and the mishaps. The kids and
parents running around like chickens with their heads cut off, laughing,
hollering, possibly cussing. But that’s
what Life is, the stuff that happens when you’re busy making other plans. The highly edited video is great, you just
hear the ice falling, and the kids laughing, and the cheering. I like to think that Bill would have loved
it.
The
following morning, Friday, August 23rd, at 7:30 am, Bill entered the
Kingdom of Heaven after a long, long, valiant battle with ALS. Rest in peace, my dear friend, you battled to
the end like the warrior that I knew you to be.
Life is a
Gift, my friends, choose to embrace it, hug your kids a little tighter, be patient,
make a mess, laugh a big belly laugh, and if you’re ever lucky enough to get
the chance, dump a 60-foot long crew shell full of ice water on your head! We are blessed, remember to count your
blessings! <3 Mrs. Lo www.LoBiondoPage.Blogspot.com
POST SCRIPT: to see the video of the Newburgh Rowing Club
Ice Bucket Challenge, go to https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=831760350189881&set=vb.212107098821879&type=2&theater
No comments:
Post a Comment